Darkstone Code

Chapter 670 - 0667 Lynch’s Persuasion Method

At the same time as the greenface was facing some troubles, Lynch was having dinner with a Federal Senator.

The place they chose was very special, an empty restaurant with only their table, and a total of three people around the table.

Outside the window was the night view of Bupen, with the whole city in full view.

Lights, nightscape, and starlight perfectly merged as one.

This private restaurant sitting atop Half Mountain charges for each meal enough to give a family head a heart attack.

Besides Lynch and Mr. Truman, there was just a Member of Congress, who was also a member of the Military Appropriation Committee.

Among the many committees in the Federation’s Congress, the Military Appropriation Committee of the Upper House is one of the more famous ones.

The main task of the Military Appropriation Committee is to review various budgets submitted by the Ministry of Defense and the military each year, select some for funding, and reject others.

Overall, if the defense and military want money, lots of it, they must convince the majority of the committee members.

The waters here are deep, but true Federation taxpayers are not aware. Approximately two to five percent of the funds approved each year end up in the hands of each member in various ways.

For example, a certain member only accepts lobbying from a specific lobbying group, whose main members happen to be his relatives or even his son.

To persuade him, you need to hire this lobbying group, and hiring them costs money. The amount depends on how big a budget the defense and military want to push through.

This is what people see as dark curtain operations or back-room dealings, but it is so simple and undisguised, openly shown in the sunlight, and people turn a blind eye to it.

Those who know about it won’t speak out, and those who don’t will never understand that most of the time Members of Congress reject funding because the offer was too low — it’s actually just a joke, everyone knows how tirelessly Members of Congress work for the Federation.

Regardless, being a member of the Military Appropriation Committee is a very important position, and it also involves some heavyweight Military Industrial Groups of the Federation. If they want to sell their weapons to the Federation Defense and military, they must first get their products into the armaments list and then get approval from the Military Appropriation Committee.

In this process, they will use all means to persuade everyone, as this is big business!

In short, every committee member who dedicates their life to the country and the people works very hard.

As for why they are wealthy, that’s another story.

Like now, the clothes on the senator sitting across from Lynch were worth over fifty thousand dollars, and this is Federation Sol, not the now-worthless Galil.

According to the current Federation’s "Minimum Wage Law," a regular non-skilled worker’s minimum monthly income is about two hundred forty-one dollars, which is about a ten dollars increase from before.

They would earn close to three thousand dollars annually, and it would take them about eighteen years of not eating to afford the ensemble on this senator.

Even more frustrating is that this outfit is just one of potentially dozens in the senator’s home, and he can at any time cause a person to spend not eating for another ten or twenty years.

Indeed, these contributions are worthwhile for the Federation’s freedom and the people’s equality.

"I’ve heard of this project, it was passed by the Military Committee, but some of us believe it’s not suitable to start it now." said the senator, while enjoying the expensive dinner, continuing the topic they were discussing.

The project he mentioned was submitted by the Navy before, where in a naval battle against Gafura, the navy discovered many issues, such as the generally low military competence of sailors, and some design flaws in some major ships, and so on...

There are many such examples. After identifying key problems, applying for military funds to revamp them is reasonable.

But not all projects are easy to get through, and the committee members won’t always give a green light just for money; occasionally they do hold firm.

They won’t approve projects that are obviously just to cheat military funds. Their integrity is purely out of not wanting to give political opponents an excuse to attack them.

They were discussing the research plan for aircraft development.

In terms of precision targeting at extreme and beyond-visual ranges, the Federation Navy still has significant room for improvement, simply put, it’s not good enough.

The Federation Navy believes this gap can’t be bridged in the short term through drills and training alone. Such combat capabilities in various complex battlefields rely more on experience, rather than just rote learning, although the latter is also important.

So is there any way to make up for this obvious shortcoming?

Of course, there is — it’s to make extreme and beyond-visual ranges into visual ranges. Something like quickly lifted observation balloons can be a method, but they aren’t high enough and have too many limitations.

They turned their attention back to aircraft. Some maturing private aviation has initially acquired the ability to carry out free observation over the battlefield.

Thus, a plan named "Maritime Reconnaissance Ship" appeared in the Military Committee’s proposal and was even passed. To put it simply, it’s an engineering ship lacking strong attack power to provide a take-off and landing strip for aircraft.

This way, it’s cheap to build, not slow in speed, and easy to maintain, and if necessary, it can just float on the water.

Once a war breaks out, airborne aircraft can relay reconnaissance information via onboard radio and also provide artillery calibration for beyond-visual-range attacks.

But the Military Appropriation Committee thinks this is a joke; those aircraft often crash while landing on flat land, now they are supposed to land on a heaving ship? The person who came up with this idea must have a screw loose.

They find it absurd. Aircraft technology is simply not mature enough, far from reaching military application levels. This project could very likely be just for personal gain.

The military has done plenty of such things. In past escapist eras, it seemed the military was paranoid delusional, submitting many projects, and due to the era and political environment, most of them were approved.

For example, establishing a Southern Defensive Line to prevent invaders from landing from the south.

These projects wasted significant funds, and in the end, were useless and cost a big sum annually to maintain. Many groups are accusing the Military Appropriation Committee of abusing power and colluding with the military for profit.

At this stage, it’s best not to approve seemingly unreliable projects, especially since an election is coming up, where any little issue could be magnified.

The Conservative Party has completely given up on the presidential race, but that doesn’t mean they will also give up seats in Congress.

Lynch was not disappointed with the senator’s direct refusal, "Worthwhile things shouldn’t be rejected; I firmly believe aircraft will dominate future battlefields."

The senator smiled without continuing the conversation; he had heard too many similar phrases. This could dominate the battlefield; that could dominate the battlefield—a few simple words couldn’t convince him.

Lynch came today not only representing himself and Truman but also to gain friendship from the military. The military’s project being blocked is frustrating, and Lynch proactively took on lobbying tasks.

By persuading a few key figures, he could push for a shift within the Military Appropriation Committee, and the senator before him was one of them.

While elegantly playing with the food on his plate, Lynch casually said, "You might not know, I set up an aircraft research company with fifteen million..."

The senator maintained a reserved smile, "That has nothing to do with me, Lynch." His stance was firm, even hinting a bit, "If you truly want to discuss this project, I’d suggest waiting until after the election, by then Congress will calm down a bit. Some people are very agitated right now."

Lynch, however, nonchalantly continued, "Your son will be one of the shareholders of this company."

The senator paused, furrowing his brows, "You shouldn’t do that..."

Lynch took a bite of the food, the tender juices squeezed out of the meat fibers. Someone said it was myoglobin, but he thought it was damn blood, cow blood.

As he chewed, his occasionally revealed white teeth showed a faint pink hue, placing down his knife and fork, he looked at the senator, "You might not know much about your son, he has an innate talent in aircraft design, so much so that the Lord would be envious. Out of respect for knowledge, I’m willing to exchange five percent of equity for this design."

The senator, whose expression had been somewhat hostile, experienced another brief pause in his train of thought. The displeasure on his face disappeared, replaced by a kind of self-reproach.

"You know, I’m always busy, in the office or study every day, which leads me to neglect some feelings of my family, and I didn’t notice he had such talent in this field..."

"I respect their choices, but I won’t offer you any more convenience in this matter due to my family’s involvement; that’s not my style."

Lynch gave a slight nod, "I understand. I’m saying this only to avoid any surprises in the future. You know, timely communication ensures no misunderstandings between us."

The senator, hands folded on the table, nodded a few times as if he had made a decision, "Sorry, I can’t offer you more help in this matter."

"By the way, what’s the name of that project you mentioned just now?"

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